Call It Destiny

cool detachment, but she knew the remorseless situation was affecting him.
    Slowly Heather raised her head and reached into the middle drawer of her desk for the contract. It seemed to burn her fingers as she pulled it out and stared down at the savage clauses for the hundredth time.
    If she signed it she would be committing both herself and Jake to an endless siege. Neither of them wanted the kind of situation outlined in that document.
    If she gave in and tore it up, agreed to marry Jake, she would be abandoning the fight and the goal she had set. She would be agreeing to tie herself to a man who might never learn to give himself completely; never learn to love.
    It had all been so simple when she had thought it was just the Hacienda that was truly important. But the Hacienda Strand had become insignificant the moment she had acknowledged her love for Jake. As for Jake, he was still trying to have it all and on his own terms.
    His own terms. Heather ached when she thought of the words. Wasn’t that what she was trying to do? Have it all on her own terms. Except for her the only thing she really wanted was Jake’s love and total commitment.
    Simple. And devastating.
    „Heather?“
    She turned awkwardly at the sound of Paul Strand’s voice. „Oh, hi dad. On your way to a golf game?“
    „Where else?“ He sauntered into the office wearing lime-green slacks and a watermelon-colored knit shirt. „Your mother found this for me the other day. I’m going to take it with me on the cruise. What do you think?“
    „That you’ll be stoned in Scotland. I thought mother had better taste than that.“
    Paul grimaced. „So did I. She claims we have to spruce up our wardrobes for the cruising life-style.“
    „Well, she’s often been right in the past. Maybe you should go ahead and trust her judgment.“
    Paul gave her a searching glance. „I used to think I could trust my own, too. But lately I’ve had some serious doubts. I just passed Jake in the lobby.“
    „Did you?“ Heather started to shuffle some papers on her desk.
    „He looks the way he used to look when he first came here, Heather. Ever since he decided to buy the place and marry you he’s been changing. During the past month he was almost out of his shell. Now he looks as though he was engaged in a war.“
    „I’m beginning to think that’s the way he views our current situation,“ Heather remarked dryly.
    „What the hell are you doing to him, honey?“ Paul’s voice dropped to the roughly affectionate note he used around her when they weren’t at odds.
    „I wish I knew. I thought I was trying to force him into realizing certain truths about us. But his instincts are to fight back when he’s challenged. He’s going to beat me to a pulp, dad,“ she concluded in humorless amusement.
    Her father frowned. „He knows damn well that if he ever laid a hand on you, I’d kill him.“
    Some of Heather’s amusement became briefly real. „Would you? The man’s almost become a son to you.“
    „A father respects his son but he looks after his daughter. At least until the right man comes along to take care of her. Jake’s the right man, Heather. I’ve known that for the past year and a half. I know I was wrong to agree to keep the sale of the Hacienda quiet until after the wedding. But I knew Jake was afraid you’d run out on him if you thought you weren’t going to gain control of the hotel. He insisted the Hacienda had to be bait. Frankly, I was inclined to agree with him. I didn’t think you’d ever come home unless you had the lure of inheriting this place. He was right on that score, wasn’t he? You did run when you found out you weren’t going to assume the presidency of the corporation.“
    „I ran because I felt like a fool. I felt betrayed.“
    „Heather, honey, I never meant – “
    She waved off his earnest apology and explanation. „It doesn’t matter, dad. I’m over that. I started getting over it when it was forcibly pointed out to me that I’d really been very arrogant and rather unintelligent about the whole thing.“
    „Jake said that?“
    „Umm. That was after the wedding. He was a trifle upset after having been stood up at the altar, I gather,“ Heather confessed wryly.
    Her father nodded. „We all were. Your mother read both Jake and I the riot act. The next morning – “ Paul continued hesitantly „ – the next morning when he returned on that motorcycle he said he was going to give you a little time. I